The Legend
by Diabolical Pink Bunny
Summary: After they get to earth, Chakotay asks Janeway to spend a weekend on a planet with ruins from a native American tribe.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Star Trek: Voyager or any of the characters therein; I just really really _really_ wish I had been on board...

**Notes**:

This is not a romance, nor is it just another Voyager story. This story is for every true fan who mostly watched Voyager for the adventure but saw the sparks in the very first episode between Janeway and Chakoay (or at least in Parralax) and thought "Ah!" and then saw the whole series and realised they were _never_ going to get the fireworks started (yes, I have the whole series on dvd and have seen it numerous times and still wonder what went wrong [and what's the deal with Chakotay and _Seven_?] ) and then went back to the start and did not go "Ah!" in anticipation the second (and third, and fourth...) time around and thought "Aww..." and gave a big sigh. Got that? And especially for those who thought 'Resolutions' was a great episode.

The initiative for this story – and a great deal of the story-line – go to my husband. Also: he is the one that kicks my behind whenever I claim to have writer's block (or any other excuse)!

**Chapter 1**

"_...I can tell you a story, an ancient legend among my people..."_

Chakotay could hardly believe it, yet he knew that what he was seeing on the view-screen was the truth. The readouts on his personal screen confirmed it: they were looking at home of the 'Lost Ones,' a group of his people that had been rumoured to have gone with the 'Sky People' all those centuries ago. Part of him had always believed it was only a legend – but then, he had spent years in discontent with the ways of his people. Had it not been for Kolopak's incessant insistence that he learn the stories and ways of his people, he probably would not have ever known about the rich background he was born into.

He wondered if his dad had ever believed the tales of the 'Lost Ones.' He could probably ask him on one of his spirit journeys, but deep in his heart he knew it was not the real Kolopak he encountered on the journey. The journey was always inward, into his own heart and the answers lurking there.

Besides, he needed to share this moment with someone living and real. How could they have suspected that this routine mission would lead to the discovery of his own people? A race of people from earth living in a forgotten sector of the Alpha quadrant on a lush green planet?

He looked at Harry Kim. He was luitenant now, but even more than ever did he guard his space at Ops. Seven years he had been Ops-officer on Voyager while they had been stuck in the Delta quadrant. Now, not under Janeway, but serving under Chakotay, the not-so-very-young-anymore Harry was still the Ops-officer of Voyager. In fact, Harry had been one of the first to petition Starfleet to re-commission Voyager (after an over-enthusiastic Reggie had convinced them Voyager should be decommissioned and made into a national monument). By that time Janeway had been promoted to admiral, but a generous Starfleet had offered Chakotay the job of captain. Harry had been the first to sign up.

"Harry," he now asked his young officer and friend, "would you believe that the tales of the 'Lost Ones' are more than seven hundred years old?"

Harry looked up. He put on his agreeable face – the one he used even now when he knew an officer needed a reaction from him, but he was not too sure what it was. "Yes, Captain. It does seem truly...momentous," he finished. He smiled at Chakotay, waiting for a reaction. Inwardly Chakotay sighed. He really liked Harry, but he suspected Harry was going to spend his entire life being surprised by life.

Finally Chakotay gave the now-anxious Harry his answer, "Yes, it does."

He looked back at the view-screen, aware that should he even glance at Harry the luitenant would start giving him information from his own scans. Instead he considered the man next to him. The tall, dark Vulcan had not moved a single facial muscle in more than ten minutes – when he had reported in his dry tone his findings on the cool M-class planet. Some of those on Voyager had been Chakotay's requests, some had been sent by Starfleet. A rather surprising number had volunteered. Some of the volunteers were friends that had been with him in the Delta quadrant. Others had been people that had seen Voyager as a beacon to man's destiny in the stars (the first request Chakotay had denied had been Reg Barclay). Chakotay had personally asked Tuvok if he would consider the post as First Officer on Voyager. Perhaps by now he could have been captain of his own ship, but the Vulcan had once more surprised Chakotay by accepting.

He wondered if Tuvok understood the wonder of the moment. He looked at the silent Vulcan. He looked back at the view-screen. Once more he glanced at his First Officer. Another sigh as he looked front again. Tuvok would definitely not understand.

"Is there something amiss, Captain?" the Vulcan suddenly asked. Nine years they had been on the same ship, and still Chakotay often forgot the Vulcan's perceptiveness.

"Ah, no, Commander."

"Very well." Tuvok returned to his own perusal of the planet. He might be perceptive, but not where emotions were concerned.

Paris might have understood, Chakotay continued with his thoughts. But the luitenant was on Earth this mission – his and B'Elanna's kid was turning two and he was not the kind of husband that let things like that slip – not with the half-Klingon as wife. He smiled at the thought of the cocky pilot and his feisty engineer-wife. They were an odd couple, but it seemed everything was working out wonderfully for them. It even seemed as if B'Elanna had finally found peace within herself since knowing Tom. Tom – and Voyager.

Voyager – the beginning of a new life for so many of them. Yes, they had all lost much, but they had gained so much more.

And then he realised the one person who would understand how he felt right now was the one person he valued above all others; his best friend and the person he still expected to see every time he came onto the bridge, sitting on the chair he occupied even now.

Well, Voyager was due back at Jupiter station for routine maintenance (still something B'Elanna got lyrical about every time they docked) in two days. In fact, the planet was discovered on their route home from the diplomatic mission they had been on. Perhaps there he'd contact Kathryn Janeway and ask her is she could spare a weekend to come back with him. She would understand, he knew. And the system was not so far away that they could not take a shuttle and investigate over a weekend. Yes, he would ask Kathryn. Even Kolopak would have agreed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"_It's about an angry warrior who lived his life in conflict with the rest of his tribe..."_

The _Delta Flyer_ was just as Janeway remembered it: a shuttle in conflict with itself. It was crammed with 24th century technology, yet the controls resembled those of the late 20th century. She wondered that as its creator how much the _Flyer_ said about Tom Paris' mind. Then again, as much as she liked the pilot, it seemed safer to leave his inner-workings alone. She'll leave the unravelling of the man to his wife.

The stars sped by. She knew the co-ordinates, though they meant little to her. They were headed for a part of space she was unfamiliar with. And Chakotay wasn't sharing with her. So she sat back, pulled up her right leg and rested her hands on that knee. She was not going to worry about it. In fact, she was not going to worry about anything this trip. Chakotay had contacted her on Wednesday when _Voyager_ had docked at Jupiter Station. His request had been simple: was she able to get away for a few days? It had taken some manoeuvring, but what use was being an admiral if one could not re-arrange a few things?

She smiled, and then reached up to touch the orange rose in full bloom tucked behind her ear. When Chakotay had beamed down this morning he had presented her with the flower. He had done that before when he knew she needed cheering-up. So in a moment of pure impulse she had broken the stem and tucked the bloom behind her ear.

She now looked at her friend next to her. He was quite busy with the controls and did not appear to notice her perusal. It had been months since she had last seen him, and she had forgotten how much she had missed him. Even more than Tuvok – which she loved and respected – it had been Chakotay's friendship and steadfast loyalty that had gotten her through the worst times in the Delta quadrant.

As she watched, Chakotay smiled that half-smile of his. Obviously he had been aware she had been studying him.

He finally took his eyes off the controls: "So, how is life as an admiral?"

"Tiring, actually. Negotiations with the Atratti are rapidly deteriorating. They just don't seem to realise we have no desire to claim their territory. And of course the worst part is that when things finally fall apart I won't be able to just fire a photon torpedo at them. Our weapons are words, not fire-power."

"Words can do more damage than weapons," Chakotay diplomatically told her. She scowled at him.

"Perhaps, but a well-aimed torpedo can be much more satisfying!"

He looked down as he smiled. Then – with a carefully neutral expression – he turned to her and said: "I do believe you've spent too much time with B'Elanna."

This startled a laugh from her. It really was too bad that they saw each other so seldom these days. Life onboard _Voyager_ might have been difficult at times, but in retrospect it had been good.

"So, then why did you accept the promotion to admiral?" he wanted to know.

She sighed inwardly. "The reasons become fuzzier every day. It just seemed like the right thing at the time. And perhaps I thought that after bringing _Voyager_ home no commission would be the same again. I have no desire to pilot a science vessel like Picard. And at that time they were turning _Voyager_ into a museum."

"Do you regret it?"

"_Voyager_? Or the promotion?"

Just then they slight beep from the consol alerted them to the fact that they were approaching their destination. Instantly they both turned to their task of piloting the shuttle; conversation temporarily suspended.

Their destination turned out to be a small blue planet. She touched a control and instantly the shuttle began a scan of the surface. Data appeared on a smaller screen to her right. It was an M-class planet rich in minerals but not in metals. The scan also showed that it was populated by a pre-warp civilisation. She looked closer at the scans: something about it seemed awfully familiar. Why would they be familiar? And why would Chakotay bring her all this way to a planet they were not allowed to land on?

The answer dawned in a flash. She looked at her friend. It seemed he had been studying her. Though his face was neutral she saw the tension beneath the neutrality: he was anxious about her reaction. She smiled at him. She hoped she was correct.

"The scans are like those of the 'Sky People' we found in the Delta quadrant."

Chakotay relaxed – obviously this was what he had been hoping for. "There's an ancient legend about a group of my people going with the 'Sky People.' They were the 'Lost Ones;' a tribe that had been part human and part of the 'Sky People' and so did not belong with either race."

"And you believe this is what we are looking at here?"

"Yes, I do."

As Chakotay had been telling her the story an excitement had been building inside her, and she knew that by now it was clearly written on her face. She lived for moments like this.

"Well, then we'd better take a closer look at these people!"

He smiled at her, finally completely relaxed and just as excited as she was. "We can land on the edge of that plateau on the southern continent and set out on foot from there." As he spoke he adjusted the settings on the view-screen and the relevant plateau came into focus. "From there it would only be a few hours hike to the settlement."

Janeway studied the view-screen. 'A few hours hike' was going to be tough – as admiral she spent too much time sitting around listening to people talking about doing something instead of actually _doing_ something. But the excitement as well as her desire not to disappoint her friend won out.

"Well, let's do it." She would explain the breach in protocol surrounding the Prime Directive to Starfleet later. This was too important, and if the natives remained unaware of their presence the rules would merely be bent, not broken.

Chakotay carefully brought the shuttle closer to the planet on a trajectory that would bring them down on the plateau. She checked her screens for any unexpected phenomena. "Atmosphere is within normal parameters. There does not seem to be any unexpected energy readings."

Chakotay started their descent. Soon they would be on the planet where they just might learn something new about Chakotay's past.

It was only as they were slowing their descent for the landing that the energy spike suddenly appeared on the screen. Instantly the shuttle's engines went dead. So did the controls.

"Report," Janeway instantly barked. Yet she knew that like her Chakotay would not be able to learn anything from the darkened panels in front of them. The energy reading had been too brief for her to make anything of it.

"Hold on, Kathryn," Chakotay calmly informed her. Moments later the shuttle scraped over the tree-tops. Then it crashed into the plateau. It bounced once before it ground to a halt with the sound of tortured metal. Even though the power in the shuttle was gone a panel exploded next to Janeway. Instantly the world disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"_a man who couldn't find peace, even with the help of his spirit guide..."_

Consciousness was not his friend, Chakotay thought, it hurt too much. For a moment he considered the advantages of passing out again. But then he remembered he had not been alone in the crash and his concern instantly shifted from his own pain to Kathryn.

"Urgh..." As he moved he discovered that plasma must be leaking into the cockpit as breathing was becoming very difficult. He needed to get out as soon as possible. But first he had to make sure Kathryn was okay.

Slowly he sat up. The world was spinning, but within a few seconds it stabilized enough for him to try additional movement. He reached over to his right-side. Soft light illuminated the cockpit – they were either in the shade or he had been unconscious for hours.

Janeway was slumped over her panel. She was groaning softly. At least she was alive, Chakotay thought. Yet as he reached over he saw the burn marks on the right side of her face. The panel must have exploded.

"Kathryn?" She opened her stunning blue eyes. They were unfocussed.

"Chakotay?" Her eyes closed again. She seemed to be in worse shape than he. Carefully he got to his feet. Just as carefully he picked her up and headed to the back of the shuttle. Silently he cursed Paris: the _Delta Flyer_ was much larger than a normal shuttle and he had to pass through two cabins before he came to the aft hatch. The air was getting thicker.

Emergency energy powered the hatch and it slid open when he touched the pad. Fresh air rushed in. As quickly as he could he made his way down the ramp and into the trees. It seemed to be early afternoon still, so they had not been out that long. Instead it appeared as if the shuttle had ground to a halt in the shade of an overhanging cliff.

About fifty meters from the shuttle he found a patch of what looked like soft grass. Careful not to touch the grass with exposed skin he lay Janeway down. She was still unconscious and the soft noises of earlier had stopped. At least she was breathing.

When he was sure she was comfortable he returned to the shuttle. Inside he grabbed the two bags they had brought along, as well as the med-kit and two utility belts from the rack. They would have fastened those before exiting the shuttle anyway and he was not going to spend any time on a strange planet without the phaser.

By the time he reached Janeway his head was spinning. He ignored it. His first concern was checking on Kathryn.

From the med-kit he extracted a medical tricorder. As far as he could make it out she had a slight concussion along with the burns she had suffered from the explosion. The med-kit contained a number of stimulants and he filled the hypo-spray with one. According to the label this particular one would not only wake someone up; it would also bring down the swelling sustained from a bump on the head. He hoped it worked.

Seconds after he administered the stimulant Janeway opened her eyes once more. She groaned. "I feel like I had a run-in with a Klingon," she muttered. "And the Klingon won." She struggled to sit up. He hoped the grass was as innocuous as it seemed, for they were by now both covered with it.

He reached into the mad-kit and removed the dermal-regenerator. Janeway winced as he applied it to the burns on her face and neck. He was not as comfortable with the tool as the doctor was, but it took only a minute for the skin to regenerate. Everything seemed in order.

"How do you feel?" By now his heart had finally settled into its rightful place again after discovering Kathryn slumped next to him. Her eyes were focussed and in fact she did not look too bad. Her hair was a bit messed up and crushed petals from the rose were stuck in it, but aside from that she seemed okay. Carefully he removed the remains of the rose. She gave him that sad smile he had seen too often during their time in the Delta quadrant.

"I've crushed my rose," she told him. "Ahh, and my head hurts. But I'll survive. How are you doing?"

"Well, the shuttle is dead. Small things still work, like the door-release and the tricorder. But everything else seemed dead."

She frowned at him. "But _you_ are all right? No broken bones or concussions?"

He smiled; the first real smile since the crash. "Just stiff and bruised, thank you. Nothing that won't go away on its own. It's you I'm worried about."

"I'm more worried about the shuttle," she succinctly informed him. "An adventure is nice and all, but I prefer knowing I have an escape route at my disposal: and the shuttle is it."

Chakotay was still working on an answer when the shuttle exploded. Fortunately they were far enough away that the concussion from the explosion merely threw them to the ground. A single flying piece whistled overhead and they heard a piece smash into the tree they had been leaning against. Chakotay felt the heat on his skin, but it was not unbearable.

His ears were still ringing when he realised the noise has receded. He looked up in the direction of the exploded shuttle. All he saw was smoke: the trees shielded the site from view. It had probably been the trees that had saved their lives as well.

Only when he felt her struggling to get him off did he realise he had instinctively ended up on Janeway to protect her from the explosion. Only now he was crushing her much smaller frame. He often forgot how small she was: her personality made up for any absence in stature. In fact, when she was in full-captain mode she seemed taller than Tuvok.

"Oh, no! The shuttle!" she moaned. He shifted his weight. Instantly she was up and making her way to it. She was a bit wobbly, but he knew it would be a mistake to help her. In her mind she was as tall as Tuvok and as proud as a Hirogen.

The shuttle was gone. The warp-plasma must have ignited. He had known it had been a possibility, but getting Kathryn conscious had been his first priority. He had intended to return as soon as she was awake to try and seal the leak. Now it was much too late: bits of blackened and smoking debris littered the ground. Something resembling one of the EVA-suits was draped in a scorched tree. The rock-face the shuttle had rested against had collapsed and he realised they were standing on the edge of a small crater.

A crash behind them startled them both. He reached for the phaser he had forgotten to take and saw Janeway halt the same instinct. The crash had only been the rear hatch falling to the ground from the tree it had been in.

"There goes our escape route," Janeway tartly commented.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

"_For years he struggled with his discontent, but the only satisfaction he ever got came when he was in battle..."_

"Our scans showed numerous life-forms on the planet surface. Life that read both human and those we had from the 'Sky Spirits." Chakotay frowned. "My tricorder confirms this."

"But obviously this village has been deserted years ago," Janeway finished his thought. She looked at her own little screen, then at the ruins. Her tricorder confirmed the proof of her eyes: there had been farming and irrigation in this area, but at least two centuries ago. She adjusted the parameters of her tricorder and swept the implement over the area. "My tricorder shows the same information. Yet the life-signs aren't fixed. It almost seems as if people are running around down there. Running very fast. I don't suppose your father mentioned anything like this?"

She could almost feel Chakotay thinking beside her. He touched his tricorder. "No, nothing like this." She frowned. Her own heart sang at the thought of a mystery to be solved, yet she sensed that something was wrong with the man beside her. She looked at him. He looked much the same as the first time she had seen him; dressed in brown leather and a rough peasant-shirt. He now wore the same sort of outfit, including the worried frown on his tattooed face. His hair was greyer, though, and she wondered if he still smiled as much as he had when they had been on their way back home. She knew she didn't.

She touched his arm to draw his attention. "What is it?" she asked her friend.

"After the death of my father I had tried to find the peace he spoke of inside me. And in my vision quests I've often seen the things he spoke about. But when I saw that symbol on that moon in the Delta quadrant, it almost felt as if it would be within my reach. I felt the same way when we saw this planet from space." He started down the incline, now more concerned with his surroundings than the read-out on his tricorder. She followed.

"And now, finding everything deserted must be like following all forty-two James Bond movies, only to see him die in the forty-third," she mused. She was looking at her tricorder screen and so nearly bumped into Chakotay, who had halted right in front of her. She glanced back at her screen, but found nothing of interest. "What is it?" she asked once more.

Chakotay smiled at her. "I didn't know you were a James Bond fan."

She wanted to hit him, then. She had discovered the series in the memory banks of _Voyager_ that time Tom had subjected them all to the horror-movie festival and had watched them all in private later. "I was. I'm not anymore."

Deliberately she turned her back on him, unwilling to discuss that embarrassing phase. They had been heading in a mostly easterly direction, and now she realised the hike had taken longer than they had expected. The sun was already very low on the horizon, and a bite to the air suggested the temperature will drop during the night. "I suggest we leave the mystery of the village for now and find shelter for the night. I believe nights might be very chilly on this planet." She adjusted the tricorder's parameters once more. "It has already dropped by over six degrees and the sun has not even set."

In silence they made their way down the final slope to the village nestled down below. Something about the village nagged at her – besides the obvious – but she could not pinpoint the problem. Something about it looked familiar.

Down below, the ruins were in even worse shape than she had imagined. The roof of most buildings had collapsed and very few wals were intact. A fragrant yellow flower covered most of the ancient brick-work.

"This seems to have been abandoned years ago," she said, wondering at the mystery. Following her own advice had always been her biggest problem. How often had either Chakotay or Tuvok reminded her of that fact?

"This seems like as good a place as any," Chakotay interrupted her thoughts. He stood in the doorway of possibly the smallest hut she had ever seen. She remembered reading once that toilets had once been outside the home in sheds like these.

"Is that a house?" She had no wish to sleep in a toilet – no matter how long it had been abandoned.

"It is bigger inside than it looks. I think this was the local priest's house," he explained as she joined him. The house was indeed bigger on the inside than the outside, but that was because the house itself was dug into the rock-face of the cliff it was built against. The part that she had mistaken for the hut was merely the entrance to the real house. "It had been carved into solid rock. Time has had little effect on it," he continued. He touched the smooth rock-walls. A very stray thought flittered through her mind as she watched him, but she instantly shrugged it off. Some choices can never be altered.

She looked around. The cave might be intact, but the furnishings had not withstood time to the same degree. She lightly touched a table: it creaked and then one leg broke off. A fine dust floated in the air and made her sneeze. Well, at least the yellow flower was not in here: her scans had shown that their sap might irritate the human skin.

"Is there any way to close the door?"

Chakotay looked around. "I'll see what I can find," he said. Together they went outside once more to look for a door.

Ten minutes later the two of them were grunting under the weight of an immense wooden slab. The broken-off ends on one side suggested the slab had once been a table, but that the legs had not been as solid as the table-top.

"A transporter would have come in handy," she muttered. It was at times like this that her slight form irritated her. She knew that even though she was doing as much as she could, it was still Chakotay that bore the brunt of the weight – and without complaint. But then, he never complained. In fact, she had always thought him to be as solid as the table they were carrying. They had had only a few arguments and even then he had never once raised his voice. Always he had been calm and sure. She often wondered how he could seem so at peace with himself at all times.

It took them another half an hour to manhandle the slab into place. They were both tired and hot from the exertion, but she could feel the cool wind through the cracks of their impromptu door.

It was then that she discovered the reason why Chakotay was probably the best person to be stranded on a planet with: almost like magic he produced food-packs, a little stove to heat it on, two small lights and a sleeping bag each. The hut had indoor plumbing of a kind, including something that looked like a shower. She hated showers.

"Not your usual bathtub, is it?" Chakotay spoke up from behind her.

She smiled. "You've read my mind." She looked at him, her mood serious once more. "They will find us."

For a moment it looked as if he would say something, but then he nodded once and went back to fixing dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"_This made him a hero among his people, but the warrior still longed for peace within himself... "_

Commander Tuvok's day had been peculiar. One or more of the crew had once again reprogrammed the chime to his private quarters with the computer voice saying _Live long and prosper_ every time someone entered or left the room. This did not inconvenience Tuvok, as it was merely the work of approximately eight-point-four minutes to reset the chimes to its standard sound. But three things concerning this prank did fascinate the Commander, though:

One: he was curious to know as to why this practise seemed to appeal to the rest of the crew, especially as he neither found it to be extremely clever nor interesting and in fact have made the announcement to the crew.

Two: as it logically could not have been lt. Tom Paris – he had not been on board _Voyager_ when the chimes had been reprogrammed – it fascinated him that even when he was not surrounded by pranksters of his knowledge, someone inevitably invented the same amusement with which to try and provoke him with.

Three: even when there are numerous Vulcans on board ship or quartered in the same area as him, to his knowledge no other Vulcan was ever targeted for this practise. He had once asked Ensign Vorik if he had ever been targeted thus, but Vorik denied any such pranks ever...played?...on him.

Another facet of his day that had been difficult to understand was the communication from Neelix. Every week Neelix reported to Starfleet and inevitably every week Neelix requested communication with _Voyager_. Tuvok understood loyalty, but the conversation with Neelix was – as ever – baffling. Neelix seemed to want to talk to the crew of _Voyager_ just for the sake of talking. Peculiar.

Finally it seemed that Captain Chakotay was missing. Tuvok and the Captain – even when he had been commander – had never completely seen matters the same way. He knew Captain Chakotay was baffled by his own agreement to serve as commander on board _Voyager_, but Chakotay has never asked and Tuvok has never volunteered an explanation. The answer was both simple and complex: in the seven years _Voyager _had been in the Delta quadrant, Tuvok had found he respected Chakotay greatly. On the one hand Tuvok had agreed to serve because of that respect as well as a certain loyalty to the ship, the Vulcan found illogical in himself. So in an attempt to try and discover the root of this illogicality within himself, he had found the post on board _Voyager_ a logical place to start. And finally he had agreed to the posting, because the day before he had received the request, Janeway had contacted him and asked him to consider it. He believed she had valid reasons for asking him to sign up, so he had agreed.

"Commander, I still cannot find the Captain anywhere," Lieutenant Harry Kim interrupted his musings. He turned to look at the young human.

"Are you sure, Lieutenant?"

"Ah, yes, sir. He is not on board _Voyager_, nor is he on board the Jupiter Station or even the settlement on Ganymede," Harry Kim replied. Tuvok nodded.

"And have you enquired from Earth if they knew where the Captain was?"

"Yes sir!" the Lieutenant snapped. "If he is still there they are not aware of it."

Tuvok thought about this for a moment. The same way that he knew Captain Chakotay did not understand him; he knew he did not truly understand the Captain. Often Captain Chakotay would act logically, but often his motivations would be clouded by his religious beliefs – usually at unpredictable moments.

"Lieutenant," Tuvok finally decided, "did the Captain contact anyone before going on leave?"

Fervently lt. Kim worked at his station. Seven-point-four seconds later the Lieutenant replied: "I show three communications on stardate 57782.3, the day we docked at Jupiter Station." The Lieutenant looked embarrassed. "I am unable to determine where the communications were sent to: after that hit we took from the Nausican pirates a few weeks back, the communication-records had been on the fizz."

Tuvok added lt. Kim to the list of things that made his day peculiar. "Fizz, Lieutenant?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes sir. Um, it sometimes makes certain data irretrievable. Sir!"

Had Tuvok been one to sigh he would have. "Send me the data, Lieutenant."

"Yes sir!"

Seconds later the data appeared on the screen next to him. With minor adjustments he worked on the decryption lt. Kim had already started and discovered the recipients of all three messages: one had been to Jupiter Station, one had been to Starfleet Command and one had been to Admiral Janeway. Aloud he repeated this information.

"The Captain had contacted the Captain?" lt. Kim burst out. Kim was silent a few moments; obviously considering the merits of that statement. "Um, I mean... well, never mind. Um, give me a moment, please?" the illogical young man asked. His hands flew over his panel.

"Commander, the log shows that the Captain has taken the _Delta Flyer_. Sir," the Lieutenant continued, "I know where he went."

Tuvok raised his eyebrow. "And where would that be?"

The Lieutenant blushed. "The planet where we found the colony of 'Sky Spirits.' Or was that the 'Lost Ones?'" Harry Kim frowned.

"I would be interested in knowing how you arrived at that conclusion," the Commander asked.

"Yes, Harry," Tom Paris drawled form the con. "Do enlighten us."

"Well," Kim began, "the Captain had seemed very excited about the discovery, but I think he had been disappointed by our lack of enthusiasm. I think he took the _Delta Flyer_, fetched the Cap...ah, the Admiral and went back to the planet. It just seemed...logical to me," he lamely finished.

Tuvok considered this explanation. At first glance it seemed illogical and unfinished. Yet he had learned to trust Kim's illogical pronouncements. Besides, it was known that Janeway and Chakotay were friends. And the Admiral did seem to understand some of the Captain's religious beliefs.

"Though we have little else to base such assumptions on, I can offer no other explanation." Tuvok frowned. "I have never known the captain to be tardy. Should Lieutenant Kim's reasoning be correct, then logic would dictate that the Captain and the Admiral had suffered some delay. I suggest that should the Captain still be unaccounted for by tomorrow, we should investigate the matter. I will contact Starfleet and inform them."

"Yes sir!" Harry Kim agreed. Truly, Tuvok mused, life on _Voyager_ was peculiar at times.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"_One day he and his war party were captured by a neighbouring tribe, led by a woman warrior..."_

He woke with the scream lodged in his throat. He hoped he had not woken Kathryn again – he felt bad enough about waking her last night with his screams. Perhaps this time he had been able to stifle it in time.

"Are you all right." No, he had not been successful. He rolled over onto his side. A blurry-eyed Kathryn was looking at him in the cool blue light from the lantern she had lit. She was going to be snappy tomorrow, he knew. She would try, but it had been four days since she last had a cup of coffee (he had actually forgotten to pack some – incredible) and now he was continually interrupting her sleep. As it were they both slept badly with the cold breeze getting in every night.

"Yes, I'm fine now that I am awake," he replied. And he was. The last vestiges of dread left by the dream were dissipating. But like a child afraid of the dark he did not relish the thought of going back to sleep.

"Well, good night, then," she told him. She handed him the lantern. "Just hide the glow behind something so that it doesn't shine into my eyes," she grumbled. Then she turned her back on him and went back to sleep. He smiled: it sometimes felt as if she could read his thoughts.

Comforted by the light he went back to sleep.

***

"We're going to need additional food," Janeway informed Chakotay as he emerged from the cold shower. He had been correct: she was snappy.

"Food?"

"Yes. If _Voyager _does not find us today, we're going to bed hungry tonight. It has been four days, you know."

Yes, he knew. They had spent the past few days working on a way for _Voyager _to find them. The best they had been able to do was enhance the signal from a com-badge. The shuttle was a total wreck, and whatever had caused the crash was still interfering with the readings they got from the tricorders. He had spent hours going over the readings and investigating the ruins, but he had found no trace of the people that had lived here, while the tricorder readings still read life-signs.

He had been aware that their food would not last – any rescue attempt would probably only have been launched this morning. They would not have been thought missing until that time and even then he could not be exactly sure they would know where to start a search. It was his own fault for not informing the crew about their destination, but he had not relished the idea of making them aware of the fact that they had disappointed him. It had seemed unworthy of him and of them.

They set their tricorders to scan the vegetation for both important elements needed in their diet as well as harmful ones. Anything that showed up green within these parameters would probably be acceptable for eating.

Except for the vegetation, they have seen no other signs of life on the planet, but that did not mean they could take any chances. Things were not as they seemed around here. So instead of splitting up completely, they decided they would stay within a hundred meter radius of one another. That way they would be able to call out should the com-badges finally stop working.

So they spent the morning and better part of the early afternoon up to their elbows in vegetation. He had suggested they start with the plants which could have been part of the crops planted on the planet. Unfortunately the edible crops had been completely overrun by weeds and they had to turn their attention elsewhere. It seemed as if the local vegetation had not been particularly edible – the food the colony had eaten had probably been transplanted from somewhere else.

The sun was beating down on his head and back when he finally found something both nutritious and edible. It read high in trace minerals and vitamins and contained no poisons.

"Kathryn," he called, for he could see her scanning fruit from a tree only a few meters away. With a frown she joined him next to his plant. She held out a pinkish fruit.

"Scan this. I think we might be able to eat it." He took the fruit and scanned it: it read much the same as the beans he had found growing on the plant. He handed it back to her.

"I think this bean is edible as well." She scanned the bean.

"Well, Captain, this is your bean. How do you suggest we cook it?" She grinned at him. "At least my fruit can be eaten raw."

He frowned, but he felt the smile pulling at his lips despite his best efforts. "Well, Admiral, we can try making a stew," he suggested. He looked sideways at Janeway. He suddenly wondered if he had ever before called her by her new rank. It did not really fit her.

She threw her hands into the air. "Great! Unsalted stew!" But she was smiling and he found his own spirits were lifted by the find. The thought of going to bed hungry had not appealed to him.

They spent the rest of the afternoon gathering fruit and beans. As the fruit grew high up in the tree it was Chakotay who ended up harvesting that while Janeway picked the yellow bean. It was only as the harvesting started that they both realised the bean-plants was covered in small thorns; so it did not surprise him that whenever he looked over at the bean-patch he found his friend scowling at the plants. It was the same look she used to give Tom Paris when he was being obstinate.

They did end up making stew of the yellow bean and it did taste terrible. Fortunately the fruit was not too bad: almost like a mixture between an apple and a pear with a light cinnamon after-taste.

It was only after dinner that they realised Janeway's lighter skin had burned in the sun. The med-kit contained both a serum that would help as well as a salve that would prevent the skin from blistering and peeling. Chakotay filled the hypo-spray while Janeway started on the salve. She had worn long trousers that day, so she only had to worry about applying the salve to her arms, neck and face.

Injecting the serum was the work of a moment. He sometimes wondered what it had been like in the days when injections had been with needles.

He looked over as Kathryn hissed through her teeth.

"I'm definitely not used to this kind of work," she told him. "It hurts just to reach my neck!"

"Here, let me help," he offered.

Something darkened in her eyes; something he recognized but did not like. Then she gave him a forced smile. "No, thank you. But there is no need."

He nodded once. "I want to take a look at something," he told her, and went outside into the fresh cold air.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"_She called on him to join her, for her tribe was too small and weak to defend itself from all its enemies..."_

"Tom!" The insistent calling finally penetrated the thoughts of the pilot.

"Yes, Harry?"

"The con is beeping," the younger man drolly told his friend. With a rush his surroundings came into focus and Tom Paris found that indeed, his panel was beeping.

Flying might be his first passion, but the Lieutenant had recently found another, more enduring passion: his wife and daughter. So while it was great to be back on _Voyager_, he had been daydreaming about tonight and the surprise he and Miral had been planning for B'Elanna. As it turned out, B'Elanna's birthday was only a few days after her daughter's – something Tom had to find out only two years ago by snooping in his own wife's personnel-records. In the files he had also discovered she was younger than he had thought: she was only a couple of years older than Harry!

But now it had become a little family tradition to 'surprise Mommy' every birthday. Well, mostly it was still only 'surprise my wife,' as Miral was only two years old, but he hoped it would become a regular thing.

The panel had beeped because they were nearing the system of the 'Sky Spirits.' He accordingly noted this into the log.

"Take us into a low orbit, Mister Paris," Tuvok told him. Again Tom repeated this for the computer, yet his mind was not completely on what his hands were doing. He had flown this ship for so long now, that this was more than just routine: it was almost comparable to breathing for him.

"Do you detect any sign of the Captain and Admiral Janeway on the surface?" Tom heard the Commander ask Harry at Ops.

There was a busy silence in which Tom knew Harry was furiously checking and re-checking his scans. Tom wondered if Harry would ever get over his nervousness around Tuvok. Then again, he himself had felt that way around the ruthless expectation of precision Tuvok required from both himself as well as everybody around him. The Vulcan had been an instructor at the Academy, and Tom would be forever thankful he had never been one of Tuvok's students.

"I can't find any trace of either human life-signs or the shuttle. The surface seems to be exactly the same as when we passed the system a few days ago." Harry seemed incredibly crestfallen. Tom couldn't blame him: this had been Harry's idea, after all.

"Lieutenant, can you detect a warp signature or ion-trail in the vicinity?" Though when once committed, Tuvok would explore every angle before moving on, Tom thought. Talk about dedication!

Once more Harry fell silent as he worked at his station, but Tom's thoughts were drifting once more. It was not that he wasn't interested in the search; it was just that there really wasn't anything he could do, now that they were safely at the planet. And _Voyager_, whether it was something about the ship or if it was the people on board, had been his new beginning right from the start, and they had never before failed each other. So failure had not even entered his mind by now: they _will_ find the Captain and the Admiral, and they _will_ both be okay.

"There is a warp trail leading here, Commander, but it is rapidly dissipating," Harry reported. "It could just be the echoes of our own flight when we passed here."

Huh? Tom was shaken anew from his reverie. This might have been Harry's idea, but he, too, had thought this was the Captain's destination. Harrys' argument had been convincing.

"Perhaps they entered the system from another direction?" Tom wondered aloud. He looked turned around in his seat and looked at Tuvok. The Vulcan merely lifted a single eyebrow.

"That would seem unlikely," he told the pilot, "as this is the most direct route from Earth." The Commander stopped, but by now Tom knew him well enough to know exactly what Tuvok was going to say next.

"However," Tuvok continued and Tom smiled, "we must leave no stone unturned." Tom winced at the old human saying coming from the Vulcan. "Mister Kim, widen the range of your scan to include alternate routes into the system."

"Yes sir!" Harry snapped. Tom shrugged and turned back to the view screen. If there was something to be found, Harry will find it.

His thoughts returned to the surprise he had planned for B'Elanna, but his heart wasn't in it anymore. Instead his thoughts wandered off in another direction. If _Voyager_ had been his ticket to a second chance, then it had been Janeway who had issued that ticket. More: she had suckered him into accepting the assignment and then – when things hadn't turned out the way he had planned – she had given him responsibility and trust. He owed her a debt he would never be able to repay.

And as for Chakotay; well... It had not been easy in the beginning, but that had probably been because Chakotay had seen right through the act Tom had tried to put up, and he had not been ready for anyone to see the real him.

He suddenly realised the reason why he and Chakotay had probably sorted out their differences so quickly, had been due to Tuvok: Tom might have annoyed Chakotay, but Tuvok had absolutely aggravated him in the beginning.

"I'm sorry," Harry interrupted his thoughts. "There just isn't anything there," he informed the bridge. "It's the faint warp trail and then... nothing. Just the planet. There is no debris, no sign of a fight, nothing." The Ops-officer looked crestfallen. His shoulders slumped as he looked at the view screen; almost as if he could detect something there the scans had missed.

"Curious," Tuvok remarked. After a few moments he continued: "It would appear your reasoning was flawed, Lieutenant," he told Harry. "Though I, too, had been willing to believe it."

"Yes, sir," Harry sighed. "I was just so sure."

"Don't worry about it, Harry," Tom tried to encourage his friend. "We'll find a way out of this one." Harry smiled, but it was obvious he did not believe it.

"Meanwhile," Tuvok continued, "I will inform Starfleet of our lack of success. Perhaps they would be able to offer a solution." He looked at Tom. "You have the bridge, Lieutenant."

"Aye-aye, sir."

As Tuvok left, Tom wondered how one went about finding a needle in a galaxy-sized haystack.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"_The woman-warrior was very brave and beautiful, and very wise..."_

She was probably getting burned again, but this hardly bothered Janeway. They still had enough of that sticky cream that Chakotay had found in the med-kit. But for now her work – even if it was in the sun – was too important. Chakotay's nightmares were becoming more intense and she was now constantly worried about him. He shrugged it off and even tried to conceal it from her, but he now woke her every night with his screams. Whatever it was that was haunting him was picking up the pace. Rescue was becoming more important every day.

That was why she now sat in the dirt in the burning sun: she was once more at the crater the shuttle had left; trying to assemble a transmitter that would break through whatever interference they had encountered on the planet.

"What are you doing?" Startled by his voice, she nearly dropped the pieces of metal in her hands. She frowned, but then waved a hand at her work.

"If only I can attach this part of the communications-antenna to the emitter from the dorsal array, I might be able to boost our signal even more," she explained in one breath. She frowned slightly. "Of course it would help if the tools I need had not been caught in the explosion." Then she shrugged off the problem and handed the bent-but-working emitter to Chakotay. "Here, hold this for me."

His shadow fell over her as he stepped between her and the sun, but he did not take the emitter. Irritated she looked up at him. Only when her eyes met his did he enfold the piece still in her hands by his own and kneeled.

"Kathryn, sitting in the sun and burning yet again will not help."

She narrowed her eyes at him. The adventure was getting sourer every day. She wanted a nice soothing bath, a replicator and lots of working technology surrounding her. She'd even take the incessant droning of the Federation Council over this infuriating planet.

"If you are not going to be of any help then at least keep quiet while I work," she almost snapped at him.

"We are not in a command structure here," he told her, quite unruffled but with the same concern on his tattooed face. "And as your friend I cannot permit you to sit here in the sun, working on something we both know will not work, just to be stubborn."

She looked at their entwined hands. Chakotay's touch was feather-light, yet she was aware he was carrying most of the weight of the rather heavy emitter – her arm would have been completely lame by now if she had still been holding on to it.

Almost like an echo on a sensor she thought about something he had told her years ago, when their friendship had still been new. He had told her he had promised to make her burden lighter. She suddenly realised that she could not recall a single instant when he had not kept that promise. She also realised that even now – when he was the one who they should be worried about – he could not let go of that promise.

She closed her eyes and sighed – something she rarely allowed herself.

"You're right," she admitted. "You're always right."

He smiled that half-smile she loved. "No, not always. But this time I am."

He carefully removed the emitter from her grasp and lay it down on the ground. Then he carefully helped her up and together they headed for the trees and some shade. A light breeze stirred the fluffy leaves.

"Ah," she sighed as the wind cooled her a bit, "I still would give anything for a cup of coffee."

"In this heat?"

"It is never too warm for coffee," she seriously replied. She considered it. "Well, perhaps iced coffee." She thought of the times on _Voyager_ when their energy had been low and everybody had been extremely rationed. Those had been the worst times, even with Neelix's help: his cooking had been a great help; his taste not. The little alien had always managed to amaze them with his need to _spice_ everything. Oh, and then there had been his 'coffee alternatives,' something she had deplored. Especially the time when the 'better than coffee' alternative had been as thick as tree-sap.

Now she would have gladly tried that sap.

"You know, just after I had recovered from the shock of the crash, I had been excited at the prospect of a new adventure." She smiled ruefully. "But now the adventure is wearing thin."

She had been a step or two in front of Chakotay, but now he lightly pulled at her arm. She stopped and turned to face him. The shadows dappled his face.

"We will be rescued," he firmly informed her.

"I know," she replied. "I know." She suddenly smiled. "It must be this heat. Tell me, are you much of a swimmer?"

"Swimmer? Yes, I used to go swimming in the Gulf of Mexico."

"So how about it? There's a pool upriver that I've been dying to explore."

"I didn't know you liked swimming."

She was already on her way. "Oh, I love swimming! There was a time when you couldn't get me away from the pool! Although there was this little beach near my where we used to go on holiday," she added. "The sun would rise over the water in the mornings, and I would sneak out to watch it." She frowned as another memory intruded. "I nearly drowned there one morning. That was the last time we went there."

"You went swimming alone, didn't you?" He seemed amused as she glanced back at him.

She grinned. "Well, of course! What would be the fun of sneaking out and seeing the sunrise only to go back without taking a dip?"

"Then I suppose I have no choice but to join you. Although it won't be the same as sneaking out and swimming at that beach," he added.

"Ah, yes. But there is some kind of moss growing in this pool that turns the water a lovely shade of yellow." She had scanned the water of the pool earlier and the moss wasn't harmful.

"Well, lead the way," he said. Gallantly he stood aside. "I can't say I've ever swam in a yellow pool before."

She thought about it for a moment. "You know, neither have I."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"_The angry warrior swore to himself that he would stay by her side; doing whatever he could to make her burden lighter..."_

The swim had been invigorating, but it had had a side-effect neither had planned on: though whatever it was that coloured the water was harmless, it did have certain menthol-like properties. While they had been immersed in the water it had not been noticeable – probably because the water had been too cool. But the moment they had stepped out of the water, the burning-cold feeling of menthol on the skin had started. Even now, hours and a shower later, the feeling was still present wherever even the slightest pressure was applied to the skin.

Nor did it help that, even in the few days they had been here, the nights had been steadily cooling down. Chakotay reckoned the temperature to be just above freezing. The Starfleet-issue sleeping bags were supposed to be able to handle the cold, but he still slept cold every night. He was also aware Kathryn slept badly because of the cold. He wished there was something he could do about it.

And no matter how warm the sleeping bags might be, his nose was cold.

Sleep finally found him, but once more it was not the peaceful sleep his exhausted body craved. Days of work and little sleep were taking its toll, yet, like the cold, there was nothing to be done. Every night the nightmares came.

By the time he woke screaming form the nightmare, Janeway was already switching on the lamp she kept by her bag. She looked weary and worried. He couldn't blame her. Like him, she too, was getting little sleep because of his nightmares.

"I woke you again," he tiredly said.

"It's you I'm worried about," she replied. She shivered in the cold air. "How many nights have it been now?"

"Every night since we've been here," he said as he took the lamp she handed him. Going to sleep with it did not help, but like a child it could drive away the shadows when he was awake. "And it's intensifying," he wearily added. "It feels as if my mind is slowly unravelling."

"And there is nothing in the med-kit that could help?"

"Not unless you want to put me in a coma, no." He frowned. "I've tried talking to my animal guide, but she seems reluctant to come to me while I am here."

Janeway frowned. She, too, had been introduced to her animal guide. He wondered if she had ever kept up with the practice or if she had only done it to placate him all those years ago.

"I thought the animal guide was just a reflection of yourself," she asked him.

"It is a little more than that," he said. "My people believe that an actual spirit of an animal chooses to walk with you. It is both a reflection of yourself, as well as the spirit of a true animal."

Janeway nodded. "I suppose like everything concerning you it is more complex than I had at first believed." He saw her thinking and he wondered if she thought him simple. Then she answered his unspoken question for him. "Forgive me; I'm more tired than I thought. I did not mean to imply you are uncomplicated. It's just that you always appear so composed."

"As Tuvok once told me," he smiled, "do not mistake composure with ease."

She smiled in return. "That does sound like something Tuvok would have said." For a minute or two they were both silent, comfortable with each other. Then Janeway returned to the problem at hand.

"Do you remember what you dream?"

He thought about it for a moment. "All I recall is the feeling of pain. Something here is calling out to me; calling in fear. I feel as if it needs me to understand that pain; to take it away."

It was true. Always at the edge of his consciousness the awareness lurked that the planet needed him to heal whatever it had been that had happened here. It was as if the planet itself had a gaping wound and it had turned to him for help.

"And this – thing – calling out to you," his friend asked. "Why did it choose you? Why am I not affected by whatever it is?"

He shrugged. "I am not sure. Perhaps it chose me because these people and I were once of the same tribe." He lay down once more, tired and cold. "I will try and talk to my spirit guide again tomorrow."

***

He was on _Voyager_, yet no matter how hard he looked, he could not find any of the crew on board. He wandered the empty corridors until finally he found himself on the bridge. There he found his father waiting for him.

"I never expected to find you on _Voyager_," Chakotay said.

Kolopak walked over to his son. "Come," he said as he put his hand on Chakotay's shoulder. "I want to show you something."

Together they walked to the front of the deck, until they stood right at the view screen. The view on the screen filled Chakotay's entire field of vision. It was the view he remembered from the day _Voyager_ had first discovered the planet he knew he was on even now.

"Look, Chakotay," Kolopak informed his son. "You have all the wonder of this ship with which you can see an entire world in one view. Yet now you have dug yourself in so deep you cannot even see that which is right in front of you."

Chakotay thought about what his father had said, but even in sleep he was too tired to make any sense of it.

"I do not understand, Father."

Kolopak turned to look at his son. "You will, my son. Ask that friend of yours: she often had more insight into our world than you do."

Once more they turned to look at the planet in front of them. For a while father and son stood next to each other: something they had not been able to do while the father had been alive.

After a while the dream faded and Chakotay was left to sleep dreamlessly.

***

Morning dawned clear and warm. Over a breakfast of fruit and tea Chakotay told Janeway about his vision. She grimaced at the black tea as she listened to his tale. At least they had been able to find a few other edible plants these past few days, so breakfast wasn't too bad.

She looked at him over the rim of her cup. "Your father said I was more insightful than you?"

He smiled. "My father had always despaired of making me understand the traditions of our tribe." He ate another piece of blue apple-like fruit.

Janeway looked out the door at the ruined village. "Something about what our father said sounds familiar," she quietly said. "Give me a little time to think about it." She suddenly grinned at him. "In the meantime, we need some more beans for lunch."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"_From that point on her needs would come first..."_

Once more Chakotay woke her from sleep – not that sleep had come easy in the cold. Without a word she handed him the lantern.

"Thank you. You know," he softly said, "I'm starting to feel like a ghost wandering this planet."

She had been lying down when he spoke, but now she was instantly alert and sitting up at his words.

"I know what your father meant," she said. Sleep was forgotten in the sudden rush of excitement. She looked over at Chakotay, also sitting up – well, sort of. He was leaning on his right arm, his body tilted in her direction. He smiled weakly – neither a real smile nor the half-smile reserved for her.

"When we came down the plateau that first day I thought something about this entire valley seemed familiar,' she continued, the cold and her weariness forgotten. "Kolopak was correct: we have dug ourselves in too deep to see the whole picture."

He finally graced her with his half-smile; and something in her flip-flopped. She pushed it aside.

"So," he slowly asked. "Are you going to share?"

She thought about it for a moment. Then she smiled. "No, I'll show you in the morning." And she flopped down and instantly went to sleep.

***

She felt like an explorer of old as she led them up the incline. She was taking them up to the top of the cliff into which their hut was built. The path was one they had found a few days ago, but had not explored.

It took them nearly an hour to reach the top, but once there she knew she had been right: there was an overhanging rock at the edge of the cliff with an ancient safety-rail still attached. She went as far as she dared to the edge.

"Last night you said you felt like a ghost and I thought about the time you had_ been_ a ghost." He came to stand next to her and she heard him suck in his breath through his teeth. She smiled that secret feminine smile every woman held in store for times like these. "That day you led us out of the nebula by using the medicine-wheel B'Elanna – I think – had put up behind you in sick-bay." She held out her arms; motioning at the valley. "And that was what I saw that first day."

"The whole village is laid out like a giant medicine-wheel," Chakotay said in awe. "I've never heard of anything like this."

"Never?"

"No. The medicine-wheel is a tool used in healing, but it is not considered magical or significant in itself."

She frowned. "But isn't it just a visual representation of the spirit world?"

He considered this for a moment. Then he finally answered a bit hesitantly: "Not exactly." He frowned. "If this village was built to represent the spirit world, then this is the site of a terrible tragedy."

She looked at the village in the valley, wondering what he saw that she didn't. It seemed as if her part in the mystery was over: Chakotay could now take over again.

"Explain," she nearly barked.

"The whole idea of the medicine-wheel is to encompass the complete spirit world: both the good and the evil. This wheel if built to lead the spirit into itself and to enlightenment. But the only way out after enlightenment is found here, is through evil." He lightly braced his hands on the rail. "And in this case the evil is that which comes from inside oneself."

He looked at her and she saw a deep sadness in his eyes. "These people were angry and their anger destroyed them."

She reached for his hand. "Oh, Chakotay, is this what you have been dreaming about?"

He looked back at the ruined village. "I believe so."

"When we last encountered this people, they had technology that interfered with our sensors. Could something like that be happening here as well?" Perhaps they had been going about this the wrong way: perhaps they should have been looking for the source of the interference they had been experiencing, instead of a way to break through it on their own.

But then he burst her fragile bubble of hope. "No, there is no technology here. I think what we've been thinking of as technology is the combined power of spirits trapped here, on this planet."

"Ghosts?" she incredulously asked. "You're talking about ghosts?"

"Consider it, Kathryn," he said as he turned to her, holding both her hands. "We have seen that the body can die if the mind – the spirit – thinks it is dying. But have we ever considered what happens to a spirit that has become separate of its body, but could not find its way back? What happens to that spirit if the body dies?"

A cold dread washed over her, but she refused to acknowledge it and she never gave in to fear. "Especially if those spirits are enraged," she added. She had experienced enough in her lifetime not to scoff at his explanation. She had seen the power of a spirit without a body. In fact, she had seen how strong Chakotay had been when he had been separate from his body. "If I were that angry I, too, would want to take it out on others."

"Exactly. These spirits are trapped here in their anger. They can't find their way home anymore."

She frowned as she considered this. This was unfamiliar territory; and yet it was not. They now found themselves in a conflict situation. And she had always found the best way to end conflict was to engage in dialogue. Only then one might reach a resolution.

"Why would these people build a medicine wheel that leads them through the evil? Were they angry, or did could it be that they made a mistake?"

Chakotay looked at the village. "I don't know," he replied.

"Can we perhaps change the wheel to help them find their way home?"

He became still – that stillness when he had found a solution. "No. But perhaps we can lead them through the maze."

She felt a slow dread join the fear in her belly. Suspiciously she asked: "How?"

He applied a slight pressure to the one hand he still held. "We have to go on a spirit quest."

"Both of us?"

"Both of us," he confirmed. She wanted to sigh.

"I was afraid of that."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"_And in that way the warrior began to know the true meaning of peace."_

It was an extremely rare and intimate experience – something Chakotay had never done before – to share a vision quest. Yet he found that not only did it feel right to share this unique experience with Kathryn; he was also eager to do so.

They were in the woods just outside the village borders. He saw her off to his left, kneeling at a fallen tree. Beside him was his own animal guide who had reluctantly joined him in this world. Silently the two of them waited.

Kathryn soon after joined them with a little greenish gecko perched on her shoulder. She was wise enough not to remark on his guide, but to merely nod in her direction. Together the four of them entered the ruined village. Silent wraiths waited for them and their anger was almost tangible. He felt Kathryn falter under the attack, but she merely lifted her chin and steadfastly remained at his side. She was softly stroking the lizard on her shoulder; as he himself was reaching for his own guide to comfort him.

They were now surrounded by the silent, angry people. They were all staring at the newcomers.

_Help us..._ the beings pleaded through their anger and despair.

"We've come here to help you find your way," he told them. His guide pressed closer to him. "You've become lost in your anger and hate, and now can't find your way home anymore."

_We are home..._

"No, this is not home anymore," he countered. "You are trapped here, but your spirits need to be freed so you can move on."

_How...? _the insubstantial bodies pressed closer, yet he felt trapped; threatened. Beside him the women in his life – Kathryn and his animal guide – pushed closer. Fleetingly he wondered how one determined the gender of a gecko, and if it even mattered.

"Let go of your hate. Let go of your desires and see the peace that awaits you." Except for his father he had never spoken to spirits before – and the spirit of his father was responsive. And loved him, even if he knew he had disappointed Kolopak in life.

_We need time... _the spirits moaned.

"Then take all the time you need," he answered. Silently he waited.

The beings parted and he and Kathryn was left an open pathway that lead back the way they had entered. Together they turned and left, returning to the quiet forest and the peace there.

***

They slowly came out of the vision. The two of them sat together in the centre of the village. Janeway was the first to speak.

"Did we do any good?" she wondered. He wanted to give her a happy answer, but he, too, was not sure if they had helped the people at all.

"We can only hope we've helped them a little to see the way," he said – the best answer he had. It was not much of an answer, though. She nodded slightly.

Gently she replied: "Yes, let us hope we were able to help them." She stared down at the _akoona_, where their hands lay entwined on the device. For a moment is seemed as if she was still in a quest, but then she abruptly pulled her hand away.

And something inside him finally snapped – something that he had been holding in check for a very long time.

"Why do you always do that?" he angrily asked. "Why do you always pull away whenever you think things have become too intimate?"

Her eyes were guarded as she looked at him. For too long a time the silence stretched between them. Then she finally spoke.

"It seems we've been here before," she said. He merely looked at her, so she continued. "And we did find a resolution to the problem."

"Did we, Kathryn?" He watched as she neatly folded her hands on her lap. "Or did we just move it aside? Did we find a resolution, or did we just ignore our hearts to live with the answers we were comfortable with?"

"And what would you have us do? Anything else would be...improper." She was angry, he saw, even though she kept it well under control. He was angry, too. He had seen the possibility in her eyes these past few days: how they had always inescapably been moving towards this point in time. For years they had been friends, but friends that could be more. And it was around this 'more' they had been dancing for a very long time.

"Would it simplify matters if I were just a normal man? If I was not the captain of a ship and you an admiral?"

That hit a nerve. She leaned forward, her eyes intent. "You cannot resign your commission! I..." She looked away to something only she could see: the future, perhaps. "I need you too much. I need to know you are out there; on _Voyager_." She looked at him once more and his heart ached. "When things get too painful, it helps to know you are all still together, and that it is _you_ keeping watch over the crew."

"Then where would the impropriety be?" He, too, was leaning forward across the slab of stone they had been sitting it during the vision quest. "I have told you before that I cannot define parameters where you are concerned. And yet you have always pulled away when you felt I came too close. Do I make you uncomfortable?"

She took a moment to think about it and he wondered what went on in her head. The last time they had been at this point they had agreed to live the life given them, yet now he realised they _had_ shied away from the heart of the matter.

She finally spoke. "We have both had lovers in the time we've known each other, but it would seem we always end up unattached."

"And perhaps there is a reason for it," he insisted. Their time here, too, had inexorably drawn them together. He had finally reached that point in his life where he knew what the most precious thing in his life was. Years ago they had been on a planet much like this one and there he had thought she was dying. He had asked her then in desperation 'do not leave me.' Now the same words stuck in his throat, for he knew today could either bring them together or tear them apart.

He pushed the fear away and said the only words he still had to say: "Do not leave me, Kathryn. I need you too much."

Another minute stretched between them and he wondered if she was ever going to answer. He could see her mind battling with her heart. Just when he thought he had lost her, she relaxed. She tilted her head slightly as she smiled a surprisingly shy smile.

"And what would we tell the rest of _Voyager_?" she asked of him, telling him everything he wanted to know. He smiled as he took the same hand she had pulled away earlier.

He smiled as he found he could finally relax. "Somehow I don't think it will come as a surprise to any of them."

She closed her fingers around his. "You know, I do believe you're right."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"_Is there really an ancient legend?"_

She watched his hands as he carved the symbol in the stone pillar. It was basically a single coil with a line bisecting it, but in meaning it was much more complicated. He called the sign a _chah-muh-zee_, and it was a sign of respect to the earth. He was hoping that using it as a guide for the spirits they might be able to find their way home. Already something on the planet had changed, for Chakotay had been allowed to sleep in peace last night for the first time since they had crashed on the planet.

She smiled to herself as she amended that thought. Sleep had not been a priority last night.

"You're staring again," Chakotay interrupted her mental digression. He was still looking at his work, but he smiled her half-smile. She felt her own answering smile rise up from inside her.

"Yes, I do believe I am," she teased, aware of the change in both of them. He had been right: she had been pulling away even while sometimes pushing the boundaries just to assure herself she knew exactly where they were. But now she was able to just lie here and watch him in contentment. He, too, seemed content.

His smile widened and he glanced at her. She grinned. She had not forgotten their predicament of being stranded on a planet, yet it seemed insignificant to their little private drama of yesterday.

"There," he said as he made the final cut. The fresh stone was white against the dark brown of the weather-aged pillar. The pillar was a beacon into the part of the medicine-wheel representing the peace of the after-life. It was worth a try.

They stood together, hand in hand, looking at the pillar and beyond the rest of the valley. It seemed so peaceful.

She looked down at their entwined fingers, lifting them slightly almost as if she needed the extra centimetres for focus. As she lifted her head she looked at Chakotay – looking at her. A great tenderness was in his eyes.

It was as he leaned down to kiss her that they heard the clearing of a throat behind them. They both turned their head to look, still holding hands.

Behind them stood Tuvok, Harry, Tom and a young cadet she didn't know. It had been Tuvok that had cleared his diplomatic throat. The cadet and Harry looked uncomfortable, but she could swear Tom was fighting a grin.

"Tuvok," Chakotay said, "how did you find us?" They both turned around to looked at the party. Chakotay's hand slipped away, but she knew him well enough by now to know he would stand by his decision.

"We were able to land _Voyager_ on a raised plateau a few kilometers back," the Vulcan said, looking _very_ Vulcan. She had noticed long ago he did that when a situation was unfamiliar to him.

"You must have landed _Voyager_ near where the shuttle had crashed," she remarked.

"That would seem likely, as we had discovered debris from a Starfleet shuttle beneath the stern of _Voyager_." If a Vulcan could have looked baffled, then they would have looked like Tuvok right then. She felt sorry for him.

"But I believe what the Captain had asked," she tried to keep him diverted, "was how did you even know to find us here?"

It was an enthusiastic Harry that interrupted Tuvok to answer.

"We had been here a week or so ago, but we couldn't find any trace of you," he began. "We went looking for you, but it was Neelix that sent us back here."

"Neelix?" she asked, not sure she understood the dark-haired young man.

"What Harry is trying to say, Admiral," Tom drawled, "is that during our weekly briefing with Neelix, he pointed out to us that the 'Sky Spirits' had had a technology that had confused our sensors."

She wanted to repeat: Neelix? The story still did not make that much sense. She looked at Tuvok, aware he would be more accurate. The dark man obliged her unspoken question.

"Lieutenant Kim had initially suggested we look for you here, on this planet. But something, which I had not been able to identify yet, was blocking our scans. We then expanded our search to other possibilities." He hardly took a breath as he continued. "It was, as Lieutenant Kim had said, mister Neelix that had reminded us of the 'Sky Spirits'' ability to confuse our sensors. It then seemed logical to return to this planet, yet instead of merely scanning, we needed to investigate in person."

"And that's when we found you," Tom interjected. Janeway needed to stifle her own mirth at the man's cheek.

"Well, I hope you had more luck with landing _Voyager_ than we had with the _Delta Flyer_," Chakotay told them.

"We experienced no obstacles in landing _Voyager _on the surface," her Vulcan friend remarked.

Suddenly this, too, seemed familiar. She looked at the man next to her, then back at the_ Voyager_ crew. "Well, Tuvok," she smiled, "I'm glad you came back."

"We're happy to oblige," Tom said with a straight face. Tuvok glanced at him before replying as well.

"We would not have stopped the search, Admiral."

That seemed to be all that was needed to be said. The six of them went to retrieve the few things she and Chakotay had brought with them before heading back up the slope to the plateau.

As they reached the edge of the woods she turned back to look at the village in the valley. It seemed so quiet.

"What is it, Kathryn?" Chakotay was staying close to her.

"I was just wondering: do you think they will ever find their way home?" He, too, looked back over the sad village. There was no sign of the spirits, yet part of her was aware they had not yet left their village.

"I do not know, Kathryn. But it is their responsibility now to find their way." He lightly brushed against her. Her heart leapt. They had known each other a long time now – more than nine years. In fact, she was aware Reg Barclay was trying to plan a party celebratinga decade since _Voyager_'s launch. In some ways it seemed so short a time, and in some ways it seemed like a lifetime. But it was only now that she felt she had finally found her own way home.

She smiled a small smile for the man by her side, and then turned. They both went up the slope to face their destiny; never again looking back at the forgotten village.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"_No, but that made it easier to say."_

The bridge was quiet; expectant. Chakotay glanced at the young cadet at the con: the woman was fresh out of the academy, yet even she felt the way _Voyager_ held her breath.

She was only holding Paris' place warm, though. Tom had left early that morning in the newly-rebuilt _Delta Flyer_ for Earth; he ought to be arriving back any minute now.

Chakotay tugged at the jacket of his dress uniform. He looked over at Tuvok. The Vulcan actually looked good in the formal wear. Just too bad it made him look even more stiff and unbending. Chakotay did not need to look back at Harry to see how uncomfortable the young man was in his formal wear. Yet it had been his idea to dress for the occasion: his and Tom's. Married life had not tempered the enthusiasm of Harry Kim or the penchant for causing problems of Tom Paris. In fact, the two of them now seemed to team up and get into trouble together.

B'Elanna, too, occupied the engineering seat on the bridge: she looked good. Married life had done her a world of wonder.

The final member of the crew that hovered on the bridge was the Doctor. He was in formal wear and had tried to complain about it earlier. B'Elanna had glared at him and threatened to adjust his mobile-emitter so that he would not be able to talk. Now the Doctor sat silently on the seat next to Tuvok: as far away from the Engineer as he could get.

Delta Flyer_ to _Voyager, Tom's voice came over the com.

"_Voyager _here," Tuvok answered. The bridge became even more subdued.

_Admiral Janeway, asking permission to come aboard,_ Tom formally asked over the com.

"Permission granted, _Delta Flyer_."

Docking would take only a minute, with another minute for them to get to the bridge, Chakotay knew from experience.

He was aware that Starfleet had granted them – all of them – the privilege of having Janeway on board _Voyager_ only because it benefitted Command on two levels: they did indeed need to send someone to strengthen relations with the Atratti, but usually that would have been a job given to the _Enterprise_. But on Earth _Voyager_ was still held in awe and the human – and some non-human – population had reacted positively to the suggestion that Janeway be the diplomatic envoy on board _Voyager_ – something Starfleet with its recent fall in popularity desperately needed.

But if Janeway was the prize, then Reg Barclay was the price: Starfleet Command desperately wanted the man out of their hair and _Voyager_ had been the answer to their prayers.

Chakotay smiled. They would adjust, even to Reg. If it was one thing _Voyager_ was good at, it was taking in those broken, bruised and lost and giving them a new beginning; giving them a future. Just look at himself, B'Elanna, Tom and Seven...even the Doctor.

The doors to the bridge _whooshed_ open. First came Tom and Seven – who had been co-pilot on the _Delta Flyer_. Then stepped in Reg Barclay; the official attaché to the Admiral. Finally Janeway entered; dressed in the comfortable every-day uniform of Starfleet. Chakotay saw Harry tug self-consciously at his uniform. Well, it had been his idea, he can suffer the consequences.

"Welcome on board _Voyager_," he stepped forward and formally greeted Janeway. Her eyes were large and suspiciously full – the balance of _Voyager_ had been restored and they all knew it.

"It's good to be back, Captain." She looked around. Harry smiled, B'Elanna looked very Klingon and the Doctor seemed fidgety. Tuvok was fine, but then, Tuvok was always fine. She smiled at each.

Yes, the balance had been restored. It might have shifted a bit, though, but it was complete now.

Finally she looked at him and smiled at him, that smile she had always reserved for him when she had silently agreed with him. He nodded back at her: his Captain, friend, Admiral and lover. Yes, they would adapt and they would move forward; together.

He turned back to the view-screen with the image of Earth filling most of it. On his right Janeway turned to the front, as well, on his left Tuvok stood even straighter.

"Lieutenant Paris, set a heading for the Atratti system; course: bearing five-four-two mark three-seven. Warp seven."

"Aye-aye, Captain," the blonde man replied as he swivelled around in his seat at con. The image on the screen shifted to the stars and the faint noise of the warp-engines coming on-line could be heard.

Kathryn leaned over the slightest bit to him. "Whose idea was the formal wear?" she whispered.

"Happy and Tom came up with it between the two of them," he softly replied. She looked over her shoulder at the young Harry.

"I'm flattered, but you might consider giving them time to change into something more comfortable. Before Harry sprains something." She stood back a bit and refocused her attention on the view-screen. Mentally Chakotay smiled. He had wondered how long it would take Kathryn to start interfering with the captaincy of the ship. He knew she would try and keep a distance, but inevitably it would happen. It would start with suggestions and a few sidelong remarks, but by now they all knew her too well: she _would_ interfere, somehow.

No matter. _Voyager_ will adapt.

Together they watched the stars fly by as _Voyager _set out on the next phase of their lives. It was not space that was the final frontier, after all; it was the humanoid heart. Space was only another place to be while they all discovered the wonders within themselves.

**The End.**


	14. Epilogue

**Epilogue **

_The dark being watched the small grey ship as it went into warp. The being seethed with anger and resentment – and all of it focussed at _Voyager._ Now that all those from the Delta quadrant – as they called it – are together again, the vengeance it had been longing for these past nine years can finally be realised._

_The being waited where it was, aware the ship will return sooner or later. A part of itself remembered a time it had not been so wracked with darkness, but that time was now merely a faint memory._

_Still musing about its state of mind, the being slowly drifted out to space. Sooner rather than later it will have its revenge..._


End file.
